"PEOPLE have the wrong idea about the money. Regardless of what I wore in Atlanta if I won a medal I would get a bonus. That's how it works. It makes no financial difference at all. You sign your contract to wear Reebok gear when you can for PR things and interviews and stuff and wear their shoes on the track. You get a bonus for winning a world championship or an Olympic medal. That's how it is for everyone.
"Early in the year Reebok sent me their gear for the Olympics while I was in America. We did a photo shoot and some TV commercials. I held onto the stuff they gave me and I liked it. I wore it in the national championships in Santry and then down in Cork when I was at home. I heard nothing from the BLE then. I think I should have been stopped then by somebody and told `you can't wear that in the Olympics, by the way'.
"But nobody said anything. It's not like anyone didn't notice. When the issue came up I told Pat (Hickey) I like this gear, if you tell me I can wear it there aren't any problems and I can wear it then I'll wear it. All along he had said `yeah there is a choice'. I mean the night before the race Kim told me to wear Asics but I said I've made up my mind to wear Reebok because I like it. I'd only a few pieces of Asics. I didn't like it and I didn't want to wear it.
It's hard to explain but the Asics just doesn't fit right. I'm not used to it. Reebok you can wear and you don't have to put anything underneath it. Asics you have to wear things underneath and it just doesn't fit right. Extra stuff underneath, I don't know, I didn't like it.
"Kim didn't know there would be a problem the next day but he was worried. Pat was still saying there was a choice.
"On the night of the race we went inside, got changed and they gave us our assigned numbers and we were there under the stand in the stadium for a good ten minutes doing strides and everything else in only the racing kit when this lady came up to me. She was with Warren Ring (an official) and she had her little book of photographs and she said `You don't have your official gear on,' and I said `I have one of them' and she flipped open the book and there was only a picture of the Asics strip and I said show me and I went right through it and there was only a picture of the Asics strip in there. Nobody had registered the Reebok strip.
"So I knew then if I didn't wear the Asics I'd get disqualified. I'd brought the Asics just in case, because Kim was very worried about it. This was just as we were about to march onto the track. Problem was taking the numbers off one and onto the other. Nervous enough taking the numbers off one and putting them onto the other. Totally on my own down there at this stage.
"They told me that somebody told them there had been a protest. I said `by who?' They said the Irish team manager. I said OK. There was no point in doing anything. Told me I couldn't wear it. There was no point in arguing. I was definitely under the impression that there would be two pictures. I don't know who registered the first set of gear, the BLE or the OCI or why wasn't told that the other set hadn't been registered.
"I think it was a pity that somebody was prepared to disqualify me as part of a commercial dispute. I don't know why it had to happen that way. The Irish team manager was at the warm up track when was warming up. He could have just said `Sonia if you wear that gear we will have to protest.' That's all that had to be done."
"Kim was upset at a couple of the things that were written about him. People said it was bad management. That upset him. Management is his job and he is very good at it. He wasn't going to get anything extra if wore Reebok. He's a professional. His job was getting me right for the race and he wanted me to wear Asics. Kim has very little business with Reebok anyway. Most of his business is with Nike. That was bad.
"I don't hold any grudges about it all. I shook hands with the Irish team manager in the village afterwards. I didn't want to speak to him. I wanted to run away or snub him but life goes on. So we shook hands."
